Thursday, 14 January 2016

Tukkayid Campaign: Diamond Sharks Part 1

Hi folks,

On Tuesday the Diamond Sharks commenced their invasion of Tukayyid, which historically didn't go to well for them. In fact, if you follow the story, they never make it out of the vicinity of their drop zone. After having my butt handed to me last game, I was ready for some payback. For this game I would be teamed up with Wade and Heinz, controlling a small contingent of veteran ComStar Mechwarriors in a Black Knight (Atlas figure), Lancelot (Dragon figure) and Flashman (Shadowhawk IIC figure). Against us were BennyW and KuriboGoomba controlling two Elite Diamond Shark Mechwarriors in a Warhawk C and Hellbringer Primary. Once again the Comstar Mechs would launch an ambush, affording them a free turn of fire, against Clan Mechs moving in formation.

The game started with the Hellbringer moving onto the board and being engaged by our Mechs. BennyW moved his Warhawk onto the board in such a way that our turn of free shots were very limited. The Hellbringer and Black Knight traded heavy fire, both taking considerable damage from PPC and laser fire. The Black Knight went pretty far up the heat scale and would lose some movement points next turn.

In the second turn the Hellbringer bolted past us, quite unexpectedly, to bring the Warhawk into the fight. It lost its rear center torso
armour completely but avoided any critical hits. We decided that the
Hellbringer would have to go down first, and quickly, if we were to have
any chance against the Warhawk. With its elite pilot, targeting computer and large pulse lasers, it had no troubles putting a head shot on the Lancelot, which had strayed into Partial Cover (shots go to Punch Hit locations). No criticals were scored, but with only two points of internal structure left in the head the Lancelot was vulnerable.

The Hellbringer maneuvered so that the Warhawk could cover it with accurate, heavy fire, then opened up with everything at the Black Knight. Surviving the onslaught, just barely, the Black Knight returned fire causing heavy damage but failing to take the Hellbringer down. Like always, I was spreading the damage at the most crucial moment!

My Black Knight failed its roll to avoid engine shutdown at 8+ on 2d6 and I prepared to watch it go down in flames next turn. The Hellbringer fared much worse, failing its ammo explosion check:

It was hilarious that the Hellbringer could survive everything that we could throw at it, but couldn't survive its own heat production :-)

With just the undamaged Warhawk to beat (AHHHH!) Wade, Heinz and I took stock of our forces. My Mech was shutdown and would take a turn to recover. Wade's Mech was heavily damaged and Heinz's Mech was ok after avoiding and one-on-one duels. Wade bore the brunt of the next turn's shooting phase, causing a small amount of damage but getting pounded in return. Crucially, one shot hit the Centre Torso Critical location, causing a Gyro hit and destroying the flamer there (which is notorious for taking hits you wish went somewhere else!).

The next turn my Mech came online again and we maneuvered so that we could all take shots at the Warhawk. BennyW split fire between us, taking the Lancelot out and critically damaging my Black Knight. When it cam to my shooting phase I unleashed everything I had left, 1 ER PPC, 1 Large Pulse Laser, 1 Large Laser and 2 Medium Pulse lasers. Every single shot hit the center torso! Five consecutive rolls of 7 on 2d6 afforded me three chances to cause critical hits. This translated to four locations being destroyed, which made it impossible for the Warhawk to survive the turn. Four engine hits took it down.

A decisive victory for ComStar and two kills for my Black Knight! Even so, I am still smarting from the Jade Falcon loss that I suffered last game. It will be a while before I get a chance to settle that score and, the way the Clans are performing so far, I don't like my chances of redemption.